Ogyris idmo

Ogyris idmo (Hewitson, 1862)
Large Brown Azure
ARHOPALINI , THECLINAE , LYCAENIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

(updated 23 July 2004)

(Photo: courtesy of R.P. Field, Museum Victoria)

This Caterpillar is pale green or brown, flattened, and corrugated. It has a dark head, and is sparsely covered in stiff hairs. It lives in the nest of various species of Sugar Ants ( FORMICINAE ), including :

Camponotus nigriceps, and

Camponotus terebrans.

apparently feeding on immature ants.

The pupa is pale brown with a length of about 2.5 cms. It is formed in the host ants nest.

(Photo: courtesy of R.P. Field, Museum Victoria)

The male and female adults have different upper surfaces. The male is plain dark purple with narrow dark margins. The female is bright iridescent blue with broad black margins, and with a white spot near the tip of each fore wing. Underneath, they are both pale brown, with dark brown splotches, and with a set of black and white bars at the base of each fore wing. Both sexes have black and white chequered margins to the wings. The butterflies have a wing span of about 5 cms.

The eggs are white and round with a diameter of about 1 mm. They are laid singly near the entrance of a suitable ants nest.

The species lives in Victoria, and in South Australia, and the south of Western Australia, and a number of races have been proposed, including :

orontas,

waterhouseri,

idmo in Western Australia, and

halmaturia in Victoria and South Australia,

although it has been suggested that the observed variations are more due to environmental factors than to inherited racial characteristics.